The invention relates to a microtome, comprising a blade holder on which a blade is mounted, an anti-roll device for supporting a section preparation that has been produced by means of the blade, and a suction device by means of which the section preparation can be picked up by suction and carried off, wherein the suction device has a nozzle with an adjustably mounted nozzle body and with a suction channel.
A microtome is a cutting appliance with which very thin section preparations from a body, for example biological tissue, can be cut off for subsequent examination. In addition to the uses in medicine and biology, microtomes are also used for the examination of plastics.
A section preparation usually has a thickness of 10−4 m to 10−7 m. On account of this small thickness, the section preparations have a tendency to deform during the cutting process and in particular to form waves or even curls. To prevent this, or at least make it more difficult, an anti-roll device is known which is usually arranged above the blade and, with the latter, forms a slit-shaped passage through which the section preparation is guided, during which process the section preparation is subjected to a slight force intended to stabilize it in terms of its shape. A suitable anti-roll device is known in various designs.
Should the section preparation have deformed despite the use of an anti-roll device, it is then usually no longer suitable for the subsequent examination and has to be carried off and disposed of. For this purpose, it is known to use a suction device comprising a nozzle, with an adjustably mounted nozzle body, and a suction channel via which the nozzle is connected to a vacuum source. The nozzle body and therefore the nozzle are mounted adjustably and can be brought to a suction position, in which a nozzle opening is arranged close to the blade in order to pick up an unusable section preparation by suction. In addition, the suction force that can be generated by the suction device can also be used to support the anti-roll function. For cleaning purposes, it is possible to bring the nozzle body to a non-operational position, in which the nozzle is easily accessible for cleaning.
The anti-roll device is also mounted on an adjustable carrier and can be adjusted between an operational position, in which it acts on the section preparation together with the blade, and a non-operational position, in which the anti-roll device can be cleaned.
Since the installation space available for the adjustable mounting of the anti-roll device on the one hand and of the nozzle body on the other hand is greatly limited, the adjustable mounting of these two structural units is complicated in terms of design and unfavourable in terms of cost.
The object of the invention is to make available a microtome of said type in which an adjustment of the nozzle body and of the anti-roll device is effected in a manner that is simple in terms of design.